Situation Ethics - TERE

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Applications of Situation Ethics These are some of the examples often used in discussions about Situation Ethics. 1 As the Russian armies drove westward to meet the American and British armies, a Soviet patrol picked up a Mrs. Bergmeier scavenging food for her three children. Unable to get word to the children, she was taken to a prison camp in the Ukraine. Her husband had been captured in the Bulge and taken to a POW camp. When he was returned to Berlin, he spent weeks rounding up his children. Their mother's whereabouts remained a mystery. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bergmeier learned through a sympathetic commandant that her husband and family were trying to keep together and find her. But the rules allowed them to release her for only two reasons: 1.) Illness needing medical facilities beyond the camps in which case she would be sent to a Soviet hospital, and 2.) Pregnancy, in which case she would be sent back to Germany. She turned things over in her mind and finally asked a German camp guard to impregnate her, which he did. She was subsequently sent back to Berlin and to her family. They welcomed her with open arms, even when she told them how she had managed it. When the child was born, they loved him more than the rest, on the view that the child had done more for them than anybody had. 2 In the 18th century along the Boone Trail, the following two scenarios took place: a) A Scottish woman saw that her suckling baby, ill, and crying, was betraying her and her other three children, and the whole company to the Indians. But she clung to her child, and they were caught and killed. b) A Negro woman, seeing how her crying baby endangered another trail party, killed it with her own hands, to keep silence and reach the fort. Which woman made the right decision? 3 A Romanian Jewish woman doctor aborted the pregnancies of 3000 Jewish women brought to the concentration camp. If they were found to be pregnant, they would be incinerated. Even if we believe that the human embryos are human lives, by "killing" 3000 the doctor saved 3000 and prevented the murder of 6000 in total. Is this not good? Comment At first glance, these examples seem to validate Situation Ethics as a theory, since each seems to demand, literally, a situation ethic – a principle of action (ethic) driven by the judgement of the person caught up in the situation. However, it was always recognised in Natural Law Ethics that it is one thing to have principles of action, another to apply them. In difficult or dilemma situations (like the ones above), a person has to fall back on very basic principles (e.g. ‘do good, avoid evil’) and apply them as best the person could. Has Fletcher really said anything new? And is the concentration on dilemma or near-dilemma situations really that instructive for the student of ethics? See criticisms below. © 2006 P.J. McHugh 2
Critique of Situation Ethics Positive 1 It can be considered as the solution to two tendencies in ethics – rule-bound ethics (legalism) and no-rules ethics (antinomianism). It has one rule: love. The rule of love is prescriptive, others rules merely illuminative. 2 It is simple and yet profound. It is not meant to encourage laxity. Fletcher has in mind agape, that self-giving, unconditional willing of another’s good, when he uses the word love. 3 In grounding his theory in this love Fletcher seeks to align it with the gospels and the letters of Paul (cf. Great Commandment & St Paul’s hymn to agape in 1 Corinthians). 4 It aims to skirt the problems arising when a situation brings important rules into conflict. It simply says: ‘Do the most loving thing.’ Fletcher, is in book Situation Ethics, highlights cases when the application of rules in itself does not address the moral problem. Negative Fletcher’s theory will share the weaknesses of utilitarianism, of which it appears to be a form. 1 Fletcher’s theory depends on the individual’s appraisal of situations. A person, even with the finest of intentions, cannot foresee every consequence of an action, nor realise the number likely to be affected by it. 2 Add to this the taint on a person’s decision-making arising from ingrained self-seeking and from a reluctance to aim for the high standards of unconditional love, and we quickly see the value of a more rule-dependent moral system - if only to protect others © 2006 P.J. McHugh 3 from our latent selfishness masquerading as ‘love’. 3 St Paul wrote not that ‘love is the end of the law’ but that ‘love is the fulfilment of the law’. For love and law need each other. Love needs law for its direction, while law needs love for its inspiration. (cf. John Stott) 4 Add to this the impracticality of attempting a moral calculus when a quick decision is needed. 5 Fletcher’s ethics stresses the uniqueness of moral situations. Whilst no two situations demanding moral choices can be said to be identical, the moral problem may be so similar in each as not to require separate analysis. In other words, situations that vary enormously in externals may be very similar in their moral tenor. 5 It could be argued that when one acts lovingly there are certain things one will always do and certain things one will never do. Fundamental rules, like those in the Decalogue, are merely ‘crystallisations of love’. 6 Hence, the rule of love is interpreted through other rules which should also be prescriptive. Certainly, the Judeo- Christian heritage is one wherein rules have a place - even in the agape communities of the early Church. 6 The problem of legalism is not brought on by rules, but by a mindset. Legalistic minds may abound even when there are few explicit rules, and those who are not of a legalistic mindset will ignore the fussier, pernickety prescriptions of an elaborate rule system - they will realise that certain prescriptions are more binding than others.
Page 1: Situation Ethics Introduction Josep

Situation Ethics - TERE

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?